How to Implement Your Process Workflow

This blog is part of a series on “Process Documentation”. As each blog is released, its title will become an active link. 

1. Process Documentation -  an introduction
2. The importance of documenting key processes
3. Benefits of process documentation
4. Understanding the 3 Ps
5. What is a policy?
6. What is a process?
7. What is a procedure?
8. How to design an effective process workflow
9. How to implement your process workflow
10. Quick steps for creating process documentation

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A process can be effective only if it is followed consistently by all involved. Engaging both stakeholders and users and making process implementation a collaborative exercise will help with its successful implementation. Making the steps easy to understand even for new users will aid in quick adoption of the process.  

As users are key to successfully standardizing a workflow, good documentation and training can go a long way in helping the users get better accustomed to the process you are introducing. 

Here are some steps you can follow for implementing a workflow: 

1. Prior to implementing, test your workflow in a real-life scenario and collect feedback from the users to determine the pain points and bottlenecks. 
2. Review and analyze the process flow and make appropriate changes.  
3. Create process documentation – document in detail the steps involved in each task and the entities responsible. 
4. Determine if training should be provided prior to or after the workflow implementation. If it is an improvement on an existing workflow that users are familiar with, you may be able to implement it successfully without formal training. But if you are introducing a new workflow or making changes to a workflow that may already be a bit complex, providing training will go a long way in ensuring its organization-wide successful adoption.  
5. Design and develop effective training material – include graphics and video tutorials for improved user understanding. Engage external training design experts if you have limited resources internally.  
6. Provide training to your team on the new process workflow, and educate all parties involved on how to adhere to the process to avoid operational inconsistencies. 
7. Assess the users on their awareness and knowledge of the new workflow and provide feedback to the training team so they can make appropriate changes to make the training more effective. 
8. Implement the new workflow.  
9. Keep monitoring the workflow so you can make process improvements as required.  
10. Keep your documentation updated with any changes you make to the process. 

If you are considering implementing new workflows or updating your process documentation, please reach out to us. Our team of technical writing experts can help you clean up and organize your workflows and processes.  

To learn some quick steps on creating process documentation, check out my next blog. 

About the Author

Technical Writer and Editor<br><br>Surya has been writing and editing technical content for over two decades in multiple industries. How do you transform complex technical content into an easy-to-understand document? Ask Surya - technical writing is her passion! She has been with ASCENT since 2018. She holds a master’s degree in English Literature, and a diploma in Journalism, and is a certified Technical Writer.

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